Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Windows 7 - How To Fix Laptop Battery Won't Charge Issue (Plugged In,Not Charging)

We have a new HP laptop at work that is our audio recording and video production rig.  For some reason today, it would only run on AC and not the battery.  The battery indicator in the tray indicated:
Plugged In, Not Charging

Strange for a new laptop to have a bad battery especially when HP Support Assistant indicated a good battery.  After some searching, here a possible the fix that worked for me on Windows 7.  This may or may not not work if you.

  1. Go into Control Panel

  2. Go to the System category

  3. Select View Advanced System Settings

  4. Go to the Hardware tab and click the Device Manage button

  5. Under the Batteries section right click on the "Microsoft APCI-Compliant Control Method Battery" and select "Uninstall"

  6. Agree to the warning to uninstall

  7. Perform a Windows Update. If you don't this, your next update will probably break this fix

  8. Shutdown your computer

  9. Remove the battery for 1 minute

  10. Reinstall the battery

  11. Turn on your computer with your AC adapter since your battery is probably dead

  12. Windows should automatically recognize the "new" battery hardware and reinstall the driver for you

  13. Your battery should start charging again

If you have an HP laptop and this does not work for you, there have been reports that certain HP laptops need a firmware update.

Edit January 26th, 2014: Sadly I have had to disable comments since people have chosen to post hateful comments if the a solution did not work for them.